Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“We can be happy with the position we’re in at the end of the day. There has again been plenty of drama with the tough conditions, and a few of our drivers had to stop in the stages, but luckily that didn’t really affect our positions too much. It’s been amazing to see the performance of Seb; he has been able to manage the lead really well. Nothing is decided yet though because Sunday is going to be a tough day with some new stages, and the first pass of those could already be quite important for the results. Kalle has made good steps to get up into third, with Elfyn now only one place behind and I’m sure they will both be trying to take as many extra points as they can tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Conditions were tough today like always here in Sardinia. We were just trying to drive at a good pace and with a good feeling in the car and trying to stay out of trouble. The puncture this afternoon was not ideal – it was an exposed rocky place that I tried to avoid, but in doing so I perhaps made it worse for myself – but with Sami losing more time than us we were able to gain a place. Fourth is not a bad position but attention turns to trying to score some extra points tomorrow. It won’t be easy with the strong pace of the guys ahead, but we’ll give it a go.”

Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“Today we continued with the better feeling that we had in the car yesterday afternoon, and that together with the better starting position was making a big difference on the first pass. The morning was surprisingly rough already, so we were expecting the afternoon to be tough and it definitely was. There were quite a few surprises, so I’m happy to finish the day without any issues. Tomorrow won’t be easy at all with the new stages and it could be quite rough again, but let’s see what we can do.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“I’m happy with how we managed today. It was a long and demanding day with rougher sections than yesterday, especially this afternoon. The lead is not a huge one but we will certainly take it. It’s always nice to fight with Ott and we know that he always pushes hard, so we will have to be at our maximum tomorrow if we want to win. It’s a long final day with new and difficult stages and we need to prepare as well as we can because it’s going to be intense. Everyone will be pushing hard for points so I’m sure it will be interesting to watch.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Today I was focused on getting a good feeling in the car and trying some different things with the setup. Unfortunately we had to stop and change a tyre in the first stage of the afternoon, but after that the pace was pretty good and I felt quite confident with the car. I didn’t expect that I could set those kind of times from my starting position. Tomorrow’s stages are a bit different to today’s, so I will need to find the right compromise in the setup and my driving.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This morning I was expecting a big push from Kalle and from the top three. The feeling for me wasn’t too bad, but I was probably a bit on the safe side and could have been quicker. Still this afternoon we were having quite a nice flow until we got the puncture. At first I tried to continue carefully, but then it started making a lot of noise and we stopped to change it and not damage the car. In the end, it wasn’t so bad, we just swapped places with Elfyn. Then I was careful on the last stage, but I hope to find a good flow again tomorrow.”

End of day two (Saturday):
1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h32m38.9s
2 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +11.1s
3 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +55.5s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +4m33.3s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +4m56.3s
6 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +5m59.6s
7 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6m11.4s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m19.5s
9 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hämäläinen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +6m36.6s
10 Lauri Joona/Samu Vaaleri (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m48.1s
(Results as of 18:30 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Two new stages near Olbia will each be driven twice to form a challenging final day of 77.78 competitive kilometres. There will be a final chance for service and a change of tyres just before the second pass of Porto San Paolo serves as the rally-ending Power Stage.